As you may have read in my last post, my resolution in 2012 was to give up my morning latte (aka “the Nancy Botwin breakfast“) in favor of a healthier solution. Well, my new lifestyle habits were really off to a good start. I know from experience that when I give up coffee cold turkey, I tend to suffer from terrible headaches. Since my goal was to give up coffee and not caffeine, I had a very simple solution: I would just brew some extra iced tea. So there I was on the first drinking my iced tea and feeling very smug that I was kicking my habit without even the slightest twinge of head pain.

On the second I woke up with a mild headache and immediately reached for a glass of iced tea and a dose of Tylenol. I went about my day as usual and tried to forget about it. When both kids went down for a nap at the same time (that never happens) my mom and seized the opportunity to work in a few episodes of our latest obsession, Downton Abbey, on Netflix. It is such a great show! Even my dad has gotten into it, even if he’ll never admit it (and you didn’t hear that from me, by the way). Anyway, I was watching Downton Abbey and my headache quickly went from mild to wild. Within minute I was dizzy and feeling sick to my stomach. Unless Starbucks has a propensity for spiking their iced coffee with opiates (which is doubtful since it would severely cut into their profit margins), I was fairly certain that my ailment was not coffee withdrawals after all. It seemed that I was suffering from a bout of the stomach flu.

I’ll spare you the details but that first night was awful. By the next morning I was feeling slightly better. My children, unfortunately, were not. Nothing feels worse than being sick, except helplessly standing by while your babies are sick. After a long day and several trips to the drugstore for supplies (7up, vitamin water, saltines, Tylenol, etc.) and even more calls to the pediatrician, we were able to get both kids to sleep fairly early in the evening with a few crackers and some liquid in their bellies.

When the boys woke me up by jumping on my bed the next morning, I thought we were out of the woods. Then I got sick again. Rather than a 24 hour bug, I apparently had a 24-hours-on, 24-hours-off, 24-hours-back on again bug. Finally feeling a little better yesterday, but not wanting to push my luck, I headed to my parents’ for some R&R. What is more restful than watching TV, and what is better to watch in TV than your latest obsession? So mom and I flipped on Downton Abbey. Dad joined in and the boys, faced with watching British television or napping (for an unprecedented two hours), decided that their pillows and blankets looked especially inviting.

We finished season one of Downtown Abbey and were so excited to find out that season two starts tomorrow (January 8th) on PBS’s Masterpiece Classics. I cannot wait! As for our health, we are all feeling much better today but to be on the safe side we are following that old adage, “an apple a day keeps the doctor away.”

Apple Chips

Ingredients:

• 2 large apples
• 100% pure maple syrup
• Cinnamon

Directions:

1. Heat oven to 250 degrees Fahrenheit.
2. Line two cookie sheets with either parchment paper of aluminum foil.
3. Wash apples and cut horizontally into slices about 1/8” thick discarding the bottom and the top slice.
4. Using a knife or small cookie cutter, remove the core of the apple (you mainly want to make sure you’ve removed all of the seeds).
5. Place apple slices onto cookie sheets in a single layer.
6. Lightly drizzle the apples with 100% pure maple syrup.
7. Lightly sprinkle the apples with cinnamon.
8. Place in the oven for 1 hour.
9. Remove from oven and flip the slices over.
10. Return to the oven for another 45 minutes to 1 hour. You want them to be golden, but not dark brown.
11. Remove from oven and allow to cool for a few minutes. They may be pliable at first but they should become crisp after a few minutes.

The kids really go crazy for the maple flavor of these chips, but they’re great without the maple syrup as well.